30 April 2021, New York, USA - The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) New York Office concluded the Spring Session of one of its flagship programme - Global Diplomacy Initiative (GDI) with a virtual closing ceremony. The UNITAR GDI programme provides a one-of-a-kind training experience to young professionals and students in higher stages of education who are interested in the United Nations (UN) to get a sneak peek into its functioning while also developing technical knowledge and learning from the experience of UN delegates and academicians.
In compliance with the ongoing COVID-19 health and safety measures, the GDI training that typically took place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York was transformed to an online edition to encourage and include participation from around the world. The GDI Spring Session 2021, which was the second administration of this programme in an entirely online format after the first administration in Fall 2020, saw participation by professionals and students from across the globe such as Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria, UAE, Korea, Norway, UK, Sweden, USA, among others. Over the course of the last three months, the participants got the opportunity to interact and deliberate with the UN legal experts and diplomats and increase their knowledge on matters of global importance like climate change, sustainable development goals (SDGs), gender equality, contemporary politics and diplomacy among others. The 2021 Spring Session GDI curriculum offered courses on United Nations 101, International Criminal Justice & Diplomacy, SDGs, UN in Global Diplomacy, Climate Change – Kyoto to Paris, Regional Organizations and Conflict Resolution, Responsibility to Protect (R2P), and Women, Peace and Security.